The City of San Diego has slashed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 24 percent over the past decade \u2013 far surpassing the 2020 goal of 15 percent \u2013 and conducted a first-ever analysis on climate equity, according to the Climate Action Plan 2019 Annual Report released last week.
\nThe City\u2019s landmark\u00a0Climate Action Plan\u00a0calls for slashing GHGs in half by 2035 compared to emissions from 2010. This year marks the fourth consecutive year of reductions with 24 percent, compared to 21 percent a year ago.
\n“Climate action isn\u2019t just a phrase in San Diego \u2013 it\u2019s a way of life. The investments we\u2019re making now to protect the environment will pay huge dividends going forward,” Mayor Kevin Faulconer said. “We\u2019re making solid progress on leaving behind a cleaner San Diego, but we know there is much more work to do and it\u2019s going to take all of us being part of the solution to get where we need to go.”
\nThe analysis outlined in the report attributed much of the changes to a decrease in natural gas emissions and an increase in water use emissions. In 2018, natural gas emissions decreased by 12 percent. Less rain in 2017 and 2018 meant the City imported more water, which led to a 19 percent increase in emissions in the water category.
\nThe GHG goal in the Climate Action Plan \u2013 unanimously approved by a bipartisan City Council in 2015 \u2013 was established based on San Diego\u2019s level in 2010. The plan also requires annual monitoring of greenhouse gas levels.
\nOther key findings in the report: \u2022 15 percent reduction in residential energy use; \u2022 14 gallon reduction in daily per capita water use; \u2022 2.5 percent reduction in municipal energy use; \u2022 43 percent use of renewable electricity citywide; \u2022 8,800 linear feet of improved sidewalks; \u2022 64 electric vehicle charging stations; \u2022 100 hybrids in municipal fleet.
\n“San Diego is demonstrating to the world that we can be a resilient, thriving community in an uncertain climate while improving the quality of life for residents,” said Cody Hooven, the City\u2019s chief sustainability officer. “We are using solar, installing bike lanes and planting trees all in an effort to reach our climate goals. Together, as a community, we are creating a city of the future.”
\nAdditionally, the report finds that sustainability efforts have helped spur the local economy and create jobs. For example, jobs related to sustainability have grown 17.6 percent since 2010, with the largest increase in the clean and renewable energy sector. San Diego\u2019s clean tech job concentration is also double the national average for overall job growth. To date, all 17 actions called for in the Climate Action Plan are in progress or complete.
\nThe report also includes the country\u2019s first in-depth analysis of climate equity across the city. The\u00a0Climate Equity Index\u00a0looks at environmental and socioeconomic factors that need attention when addressing access to opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved. The index uses 35 indicators to measure equity impacts, including flood risk, poverty, transportation, and traffic, among others. The goal is to better identify vulnerable communities and inform decision-making for neighborhood investments while providing a data-driven approach to measure progress.
\n“The Climate Equity Index was developed in partnership with organizations throughout the city to better understand and serve our communities that face barriers to opportunity,” said Climate Equity Specialist Roberto C. Torres. “It\u2019s the first time a city has done an assessment like this to help address climate equity and San Diego is one of only a handful of cities in the country with staff dedicated to bringing climate equity to our neighborhoods.”
\nThe Climate Action Plan is a landmark package of policies that benefits San Diego\u2019s environment and economy. It has helped create new jobs in the renewable energy industry, improved public health and air quality, conserved water, more efficiently used existing resources, increased clean energy production, improved quality of life and saved taxpayer money.\u00a0It includes one of the most ambitious renewable energy goals in the world. San Diego\u2019s 100 percent renewable goal is for 2035 \u2013 10 years earlier than California\u2019s goal of 2045 set earlier this year.
\nThe City also continues to be a national leader in several categories, including: \u2022 Becoming the largest city in the country to pursue a clean energy community choice program, setting a new standard for the rest of the country. \u2022 Ranking second nationally in overall solar installations behind Los Angeles, according to the Environment California\u2019s 2019 annual report.\u00a0 \u2022 Linking San Diego\u2019s ambitious climate goals with the United Nation\u2019s Sustainable Development Goals to show how our actions fit within a global context. San Diego is one of three cities to join the U.N. in this effort.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The City of San Diego has slashed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 24 percent over the past decade \u2013 far surpassing the 2020 goal of 15 percent \u2013 and conducted a first-ever analysis on climate equity, according to the Climate Action Plan 2019 Annual Report released last week. The City\u2019s landmark\u00a0Climate Action Plan\u00a0calls for slashing […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":283112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Report: City of San Diego ahead of schedule to meet clean air goal","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[12360,11560,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-283170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-duplicate","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}